Railroad crosstie



2 Shqetsfsheet 1 Dec. 25, t1928.

H. A. WILLS 'RAILROAD cnossgu n medumh 191928 Sm. l

ATTORNEY .Rmx MY w uw I: lll illww.-

Patented Dec. 25, l1928.

HAROLD A. WILLs, or PLArNrIELn, NEW JERSEY.

.RAILROAD oRoss'rIE.

Appncation med Marcil i9, `192s. seran Naaeaesr serious drawback with wood is that it is not durable and wear resistant and the growing scarcity Vof. timber results in themounting cost of woods suitable for railroad cross-ties. Hence the effort is still continued to-lind a satisfactory substitute for'wood. It has been proposed to use concreta' but concrete alone does not possess the necessary resiliency and its stone-like nat-ure prevents the use of ordi'- nary spikesfor holding therails on the cross ties. For this reason it has been proposed to combine concrete and metal with wood inserts for the spikes. For one reason or another, however, combination concrete a-nd .steel cross-ties as heretofore proposed and used have not been entirely satisfactory, and

wood still continues to be the chief reliance of the railroads for cross-ties. Y Theobject of the present invention is to produce an improved railroad crosstie in which wood, concrete and. steel are so combined asjto give the' necessary resiliency7 afford the. spikes av proper holding material to bev driveninto, and which will be durable in service and' cheaper to maintain than cross-ties composed .wholly of wood. To these ends the invention consists in the improved railroad cross-tie herein#4 after fully described' an'd particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying' drawings illustrating the preferred form of the invention, Fig. 1 is a. top plan 'of the improved railroad cross' tie g' Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the tie shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectionV through the improved cross-tie andtaken on the line B43'. of Fig. 1; Figs. 4c and 5 are cross-sections .taken on lthe lines 1 4 anc 5 5, respectively, of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a side elevation showingl disasseinbled, the parts con'iposing the improved `cross-tie; Fig. 7 a side elevation of a modified form ofthe improved railroad cross-tieg Fig. 8 is a top plan of the tie shown in Fig. 7; and F ig. 9 is a side elevation showing the 'modified form of tie disassembled.

The improved railroad crossftie illustrated in Figs. 1 to 6, comprises two blocks or base pieces 10 and 11 composed of reinforced concrete. Each block 10 and 11 is an elongated member somewhat rectangular' in cross-sec-v tion'but slightly wider at its base 12 than at its top 13, as shown in Fig. 4. The-block 10 is adapted to be placed under one and the block 11 under the other of two-opposite rails. Preferably theblocks are so arrangedthat lthey extend ony eitherside of the rails substantially equal distances to afford a propel' distribution of the weight on the bottom sur-A faces 12 of the blocks.

. The blocks 10 and 11 areheld in alinement with 'each other. under the rails by means of a tie-piece. 15 .composed of steel or other appropriate metal. The'tie-piece 15 is a fla-t elongated member and at' its ends'is received in shallow recesses 16 formed in thel top surface of the inner ends of the base block. The recesses V1G are of such depth that when the ends of the tie-piece are received therein the. top surface of the tie-pieceis Vsubstantially fiush with the top surface 13 ofthe base blocks. In

order to strengthen and yprotect the tie-piecev 15 and also to holdythe base blocks 10 andll at a fixed distance apart'toassist'in"preservingtlie gauge of the railway the tie-piece 15 is embedded in a concrete alinementinember 17 the lower part 18 of which is somewhat wedge-shaped andabuts at each end against the adjacent .inner surfaces 19 of the base blocks. The outer ends 2O of the upper part of the member 17 project endwise beyond the lower wedgeshaped portion 18 and rest upon the upper surfacesfl) of the innerends of the base blocks. It is thus clear that the4 member 17 serves to protectand strengthen Vthe tiepiece 15 and alsoacts as an alinernent mem-v piece is substantially rectangularin form and rests on Vthe middle part` of the upper' surface of its base block. In depth 'or thick-V ness each wooden wear piece-21. is substantiallycqual to the height of the] part of the member 17 projecting upwardlyfrom the top surfaces of th-e base blocks, thereby providing a substantially plane surface for the topof the erossstie.. At their inner ends thewear pieces 21 abut against the outer ends A2O of the member 17 and at their outer ends the wear pieces 21 abut against the Vshoulders 22 formed on the outer ends of the upper surfaces of the base blocks. The parts thus far described areheld togetherto constitute a cross-tie by means of the bolts 23, the lower ends of which are received in appropriate re cesses or holes formed in the concrete base blocks and 1l, as clearly indicated in .the drawings. lThe outer ends ,of the metal tiepiece are provided with holes through which pass the inner pair of bolts Q4.

On the upper edge ot the front side of each base block is formed a shoulder against which abuts the ,front edge or side of the wear pieces 2l. I designate as front that part .of the base blocks and wear pieces which is facing -in the direction of travel of the trains and hence the .direction of movement or creep of the rails under the action of the trains. The shoulders 25 prevent the wear pieces 2l from shitting under the action or creep of the rails. The other edge ot the upper surface of the base blocks is left tree in order that wear pieces of different widths may be used without trimming them to a particular dimension, thus saving ,considerable time and labor in road repairs, and also in the cost ot' the wear pieces. Superposed on substantially the middle portion of each wear piece is a metal tie plate 26 provided with an outer shoulder?? adapted to engage with the outer edge of the rail. Holes 28 are provided in each tie plate to receive the spikes which hold the rail on the tie plate and in place on the cross-piece. The 4spikes pass downwardly7 through the wear pieces 21 and into wooden blocks 29 sunk in the upper surface of the base blocks. V

It will be recognized by those particularly skilled in this art that the improved cross-tie described above possesses the advantages of an all wood tie as to resiliency and also the advantages of a combined concrete-metal tie as to strength and durability. The concrete base blocks 10 and 11 are easily shifted and for this purpose the dog holes 30 are provided in the upper edges of their lateral sides. `When the wear pieces are worn out they can be easily and quickly replaced byy sliding them laterally over the top surfaces 'of the base blocks without moving the latter, the absence of a shoulder on the upper edges of the rear sides of the base blocks permitting this mode of operation.

In the modified form ot the improved crosstie shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9 the concrete insert or alinement member 3:2 is considerably shortened and the inner ends of the base blocks 33 and 3d correspondingly lcngthened. The metal tie-piece 35 is also shortened and the wooden wear pieces 36 lengthencd. This modified 'form ot cross-tie is especially intended to prevent damage to the alinement member of the cross-tie in the event or' derailment. In the modiiied form of cross-tie, in order to secure an equal distribution of weight on the lowersurfaces of the ends of the base blocks 33 and 34: projecting laterally beyond each side oi the rails, while maintaining the tie plates 37 substantially in the middle of the blocks 33 and 34, I have widened the outer ends of the blocks and narrowed the inner ends thereof, as shown in Fig. 8. In other respects the modiiied form of crosstie is exactly the same as the preferred form and functions in the same manner.

Having thus described the invention what I claim as new is zl. A railroad cross-tie comprising, two concrete base blocks having on the upper su-rfaces of their inner ends shallow recessesa metal tie-piece received at its ends in the recesses in the base blocks, a concrete aline ment member in which the middle section yot the metal tie-piece is embedded with its ends projecting longitudinally beyond the ends of the concrete alinement member, the ends of the upper -part of the alinement member projecting laterally beyond the sides of the metal tie-piece to rest upon the upper edges of the inner ends of the base blocks, and .the middle section of the alinement member projecting downwardly between the base vblocks and abutting the inner ends thereof, and meansor holding the parts of the .cross-piece together.

2. A railroad cross-tie comprising, two concrete base blocks having on the upper sur faces of their inner ends shallow recesses, a metal tie-piece received at each end in the recesses inthe base blocks, a concrete alinement member in which the middle section of the metal tie-piece is embedded with its ends projecting klongitudinally beyond the ends ot the concrete alinement member, the ends of the upper part ot the alinement member projecting laterally beyond the sides of the metal tie-piece to rest -upon the upper edges ot' the inner ends of the base blocks7 and 'the middle section of the alinement member projecting downward-ly between the base blocks and abutting the inner ends thereof, wooden wear pieces superposed upon the middle sec- '1 tions of the upper surfaces of the base blocks, the base blocks being provided with upwardly projecting shoulders engaging the wear pieces to prevent lateral displacenicnt of wear pieces under the creep of the rails, and means for holding 'the parts of the crosstic together.

i y HAROLD A. VvWILLS 

